Right Colour Wrong!
The more I paint the more I understand that there is NO RIGHT COLOURS for the things in my paintings. It is most exciting (and I create the most unique painting) when I mix my own paint and find the colours that work for me.
That said, I truly believe that “tone” is much more important than “colour”.
Tone can be judged really easily these days using the monotone filter on our phone’s camera.
We are looking for a balance of lights and darks and we want to be able to see the feature object of the painting stand out against the background.
One of my early inspirations, Ken Done, used yellow for faces rather than mixing a skin colour. He has helped me understand this tone concept more than anyone.
Be creative with colour, break some rules. But get your tones right and the whole painting will work.
